Chương 126: POP YOU, POP OFF, WHAT THE POP

Pearl came up to my desk the moment the last bell rang.

"Let's go home together, Sam!" Maria hissed slightly at her. The vampire disliked her territory being infringed upon by unwanted guests. She also disliked Pearl, but Pearl never seemed to notice.

"Sure," I said. I picked up my things and got up. My phone chimed. KEYS ~ Pick up GC stat 4 FnH visit. C u goddess. I stared at the message. Obviously, Harvey had been teaching Keys how to text in a way I couldn't understand. I frowned.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Marcus asked. I realized I had just stopped in front of his desk.

"You're a beta, right? Decipher this!" I pushed my phone into his face.

"He'll pick you up from…" Marcus paused, running through the most likely places initialed with G. C. in his mind.

"Gate City station? For… F and H visit… to visit F and H." Marcus squinted.

"Sorry, I don't know what F and H are… Oh wait." He opened up my calendar app.

"Here, you are visiting Flynn and Hank… Okay, I got it! It reads: I'll pick you up from Gate City Station to visit Flynn and Hank. See you, goddess." Marcus translated way too loudly.

"Goddess?" Henry raised a brow.

"It's a joke." I quickly brushed it off.

"Who's Keys?" Marcus asked.

"He's my, uh, cousin," I said. The guys laughed.

"Does your cousin know he shares the same name as the hottest fight dog of the year?" Henry asked. I froze. Keeping Keys' stage name was probably not the brightest idea.

"It's a nickname," I said.

"Why? Is he as hot as Keys?" Pearl asked.

"I don't know," I said, frustrated. The guys laughed again, but it wasn't an unkind sound.

"I don't think Sam would know about these things," Marcus said.

"I don't really know anything about it either," Pearl told the guys. I sighed.

"Let's go, Pearl." I had no patience to listen to condescending remarks about all the things girls didn't know.

"In a hurry to meet your cousin?" Pearl asked.

"Not really," I said.

"I was supposed to meet Jules and the guys, though."

"Oh, the beta upperclassmen?" Pearl asked, sounding totally surprised. I felt quite sure she would've known, though. Oh well.

"Yeah, sorry, do you mind? I promised them yesterday." I'd hate to drag Pearl into it.

"We could take the later train too."

"No, no, I don't mind," Pearl said.

"Let's go!" We reached Winderhill Station pretty quickly, considering that we walked along the mountain road instead of through the old buildings. Pearl walked surprisingly fast too. But from the gathering crowd, we had probably missed the guys' train. Oh well. I walked to the end of the platform. {Betas approach}"She's over there." I looked up, surprised at the familiar voices.

"Hi, guys," I said when they came around from behind the next wall.

"We thought we missed your train," Jules said.

"This is Pearl," I introduced.

"Hope you don't mind me joining you guys." Pearl smiled.

"The more, the merrier," Jules said.

"We're seniors. I'm Julian, Debate Captain. That's Matthew, our Student President. And that's Brandon, Football Captain." Jules' introduction was different. Were they trying to impress Pearl? Because it's working.

"Oh wow," she said. The train pulled up at the platform, and we boarded together. Pearl looked a little nervous. She smiled, but her breaths came out uneven.

"So… you guys take the train home every day?" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Yeah, usually," Jules answered. I noticed neither of the other two guys spoke. They averted their gaze and busied themselves on Bra's phone.

"What are you looking at?" Pearl asked them. Never ask a guy what he's looking at on his phone. Never. That's what Shannon told me when I asked him once. Then he showed me a picture of a car.

"I'm daydreaming about my future car."

"So what's wrong with asking?" I wanted to know.

"I could be daydreaming about something more private," Shannon answered.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Sam…" Shannon growled.

"Just don't ask. Guys need their privacy." I had laughed at that. Stupid. It's just a picture of a car. But I guess everyone should be allowed their own private space. The guys looked uncomfortable.

"Just the news," Bra answered. He put his phone away.

"What news?" Pearl asked.

"There's a fight dog on the loose. He killed his guards and escaped. The vamps are looking for him. He's very violent," Bra reported. That didn't sound so bad, or very private either.

"Oh, that's so scary," Pearl said.

"Who escaped?" Jules asked.

"Keys," Bra told him.

"The Keys?" Jules asked, and then he laughed.

"That's gonna cost them."

"My stop. Bye." Matt left a stop earlier than usual.

"Oh yeah, bye, Matt," Jules said quickly.

"Bye," Bra said.

"Bye, Matthew!" Pearl called brightly. I waved. Matt looked embarrassed and ducked out of the train. Jules and Bra looked at Pearl. Jules shrugged. I frowned at the news about Keys. He definitely wasn't safe.

"What's up, Sam?" Jules asked. Oops, Jules had a way of sensing my moods.

"Ah, I was just thinking of my friend."

"What about your friend?" Jules asked. What about Keys? And then I remembered!

"Do you guys know a good replacement word for the f-word? Like something very funny that I can make my friend say," I said. Jules and Bra looked confused.

"So when he wants to say f-you, he would have to say, like, I don't know, love you?" I started feeling a little silly at that. I quickly added, "Something really funny would be good."

"What are you doing to the poor guy?" Jules asked me. Bra was laughing now. Pearl laughed too.

"But how can you make him say it?" Pearl asked me.

"He will do whatever I say," I assured her. The guys boomed at that.

"Woah, Sam…" What? I am the future alpha. The whole pack would replace the f-word with whatever replacement word I choose if I wanted it.

"All right! You came to the right experts," Jules declared.

"Yeah, you are talking to the cuss experts," Bra said.

"How about 'dance'?" Jules asked.

"You know, like Dance you! Or Dance off! Or what the dance?" Pearl started giggling. I smiled.

"Yeah, something like that." Bra started trying out random words.

"Shoe you! Bra off! What the panties!" We were all laughing a little too loudly now. The guys came up with all kinds of nonsense words to replace the f-word. And then Jules said, "Pop." What?

"Use 'pop,'" Jules said.

"Trust me.

'Pop' will be good."

"Pop you! Pop off! What the pop!" Bra gave it a test run.

"Here's my popping stop! Bye!"

"Oh! It's my stop too!" Pearl said.

"Bye!"

"Bye, Bra!" Jules called.

"Bye, Pearl." I waved them off.

"Bye!" It looked like Pearl had fun. I was glad.

"Your friend Pearl—she in your class?" Jules asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. Jules nodded, then shrugged. I was beginning to see how he shrugged like that every time he was shaking off a thought. Then Jules grinned at me.

"Yup, 'pop' will really pop up your friend's language." I laughed at that. We talked a little more about nothing much in particular. My phone chimed: B. HARVEY ~ Parkg far. Mt K @ ent B.

"Why can't betas write in English?" I groaned aloud. Jules laughed.

"What?"

"I can't understand my beta's text!" I complained, then I remembered.

"Oh yeah, you're a beta." Lucky! I showed Jules the text. Jules took a quick glance and laughed it off.

"He's probably driving."

"Please, great beta, translate your sacred text for me!" I joked. Jules really laughed then. He looked more carefully at the text.

"The parking's far, so he's sending K to meet you at Entrance B."

"Oh." I looked at the text again. Oh. So that's what it means.

"Why don't you just tell him to spell it out for you? I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Jules said.

"It's okay," I told Jules.

"I've always wanted to learn a second language." Jules chuckled at that, but turned serious when he asked, "You know who K is, right?"

"Yeah, it's Keys," I said. Jules laughed again.

"Funny, Sam. Just make sure it's the right K-guy. Don't follow anyone else—it's dangerous now, especially if it's Keys." Oh yeah. That's right. Keys is a dangerous escaped fight dog.

"You do know who the K-guy is, right?" Jules asked. Sometimes Jules worried too much. I laughed it off.

"Of course."

"Well, Gate City should be safe enough," Jules sounded like he was consoling himself. The train pulled up at Gate City.

"Your stop, Sam," Jules announced.

"Thanks, Jules! Bye!" I turned to leave.

"See you!" Jules called back, and the train door closed. The station was busy but not terribly crowded. {Approaching Beta} I scanned the various clusters of people. I am meeting Keys… right? Some ladies were laughing and looking in a direction.

"Oh, why don't you ask him? He's just been standing there for a while now." Her friend laughed a little too loudly.

"That's too embarrassing."

"Just ask for his number," the third girl said.

"And then share it with us."

"No way!" They were really loud. I looked in the direction of their admiration—a man who stood just under the Entrance B sign. His black hair was shaved close on the sides, the top swept back in a suave wave. His eyes were a deep turquoise, and he wore an expensive-looking navy wool coat. Very adult. The man raised his hand in greeting and smiled. Keys? The ladies nearly squealed in joy. Then he walked over and stopped in front of me.

"Hello, goddess." I narrowed my eyes at him. What the heck. He blinked, and I saw his contact lenses shift. His hair… once long and wild, was so respectable now.

"Hi, Keys, you cleaned up well."

"I'm Killion now," he informed me. I suddenly remembered Jules' warning…

"Come on," I said and walked through the exit. Technically, I wasn't following Keys; he was following me. I mean Killion. I turned to face him once we were at street level and stared hard at him. He looked so grown up. {Approaching Beta} Killion smoothly turned me forward and navigated us through the crowd and to the waiting black pickup truck. Harvey was leaning on the driver's door, usual jeans and leather jacket. He straightened with a wry smile.

"Hello, Princess." I grinned at the now-familiar sight. Killion pulled open the passenger door for me. Then he let himself in next to me. Harvey's truck pulled out smoothly from the crowded parking lot.

"Oh yeah, Killion, the word to replace the f-word is 'pop,'" I told him.

"What? Pop?" Killion asked. Harvey raised a brow but quietly listened in.

"Yes. Pop. The next time you need to say the f-word, you say 'pop.'""That's popping stupid," Killion said to me. I started laughing immediately. I saw Harvey smile in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, just like that," I told Killion.

"Harv is a popping popper," Killion told me. Harvey laughed now.

"I should be mad, Ki, but I'm not." Ki? Ohhh… now Keys is a secret Ki. Smart.